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Tableau for Dummies: Tips to Make You Tableau-Smarter

Want to learn the ins and outs of Tableau? We’ve got you covered with a new book.

Tableau for Dummies is a great read for both beginners just getting started with Tableau as well as intermediate users looking to fill in the gaps. The book focuses on core functionality, or the foundation on which to build more advanced skills. But it also contains a chapter on advanced analytics and how to ask deeper questions of your data.

To put it simply, Tableau for Dummies is full of tips, tricks, and lessons to help you see and understand your data. Here are just five of them.

1. Don’t Wait for Your Source Data to be Perfect

Tableau can help you identify dirty data. You can use Tableau to understand data issues quickly, then make the necessary changes to your underlying data when you have more time or resources.

2. Reuse Data Connections

When connecting to data, there is a method that allows you to use a connection from another workbook. On the Connect panel, choose the “other files” option. Then select the workbook with the data source you’d like to use in the new workbook.

If you use Tableau Server or Tableau Online, you have even more scalable and secure options for sharing data connections.

3. Leverage Your Previous Work

Not only can you copy worksheets from one workbook to another, but you can also copy whole dashboards between workbooks! Simply right-click on the tab of the worksheet or dashboard you want to copy, and select “copy sheet” from the menu that appears. Then right-click over the tab area of your destination workbook and select “paste sheet.”

4. Learn Visual Best Practices

Designing for yourself is great, but take a step back and ask yourself, “Would this view make sense to anyone else?” That’s where visual best practices come in. They help you create visualizations that speak to everyone.